MMR TIMELINE

1998 February: Royal Free press briefing after Lancet paper. Dr Andrew Wakefield, then of London’s Royal Free hospital, suggests a link between the MMR vaccine and an increased risk of autism and bowel disorders. He says his team have found a “genuinely new syndrome” and suggest the combination might be overpowering the body’s immune system.

1997: the Smith Kline Beecham Urabe MMR jab was used in a mass vaccination programme in Brazil.

1990: the high levels of British adverse reactions to the Plusarix vaccine were apparent and known about at British Ministerial level in , as shown by ministerial correspondence http://www.whale.to/vaccine/mmr666.html